Hogan's Dragons: The Fire Within
by h311h0und
Summary: When Carter finds a mysterious red rock, that turns out to be a dragon's egg, he must not only keep everyone from finding out about but also teach the baby all he knows about the world. Pyromaniacs anyone? Hogan's Heroes fic.


A/N: Hello! H311h0und here. With a new story! my second one... haven't even finished my first one. Oh well... anyway I hope you enjoy this story! a Hogan's Heroes story with dragons. Oh my! Might rate T just to be safe. BTW Spell check is my best friend so let me know if anything is wrong. Please R & R. Thanks! And now... On with the tale! I do not own Hogan's Heroes. Just the Dragons.

~HH~

It was a time where myths were real and legends were being made that a council of the last dragons gathered on the highest mountain peak to discuss the future. They knew that they were a dying race. But they would not so easily be defeated by fate. They gathered the last of the eggs and hide them around the world, so when the time came they would hatch and learn the ways of the world from their human counter parts they would call their companion. This task was soon done and the dragons were hunted down and killed. Years passed, dragons became a myth, and the eggs remained dormant within their hiding places, waiting. It is now the year 1943; the place: somewhere in the Hammelburg woods. Another factory has been bombed by the Allied air forces. But this bombing has caused the forest to catch on fire. In one of the bomb made craters, a gray dormant egg changes into a bright red color. Not far from this crater, a man stumbles through the forest fire.

~HH~

Master Sergeant Andrew Carter stumbled again unable to see through the smoke that was becoming thicker by the minute. He tried desperately to stay quite but the smoke caused him to cough violently. He wasn't quite sure where he was but he guessed he was near the factory that the allies had planned to bomb later that day. But with a storm heading in, the allies had to move the timing earlier than planned. He hadn't known about the incoming storm or the change in the plan. But that still shouldn't have been a problem for Carter had he, after giving the radio parts to the underground, stayed on the right path. But a sudden appearance of Gestapo patrols had caused him to change his route back to camp and now he was not only lost but was right smack dab in the middle of a forest fire. He wished he had listened to Hogan's warning better. He wished Hogan or one of the other fellas at camp were with him right now. They would know what to do and where to go. But he knew he was alone in this one, no one was going to help him. He wondered why he left camp in the first place.

~HH One Hours Before~

It was 1200 hours and it was gorgeous day out at camp despite the snow that was ground and prisoners were out enjoying every minute of sunshine. A group had even started up a small game of football (or soccer some called it). Corporals Peter Newkirk and Louis LeBeau were on the bench outside barracks two playing checkers with Carter trying to tan himself with aluminum pie pans. Colonel Robert Hogan was leaning against the barracks watching the camp surroundings. The only person not out and about was Staff Sergeant James 'Kinch' Kinchloe who had radio duty.

"Sir, do you think Hochstetter finally pulled those patrols out of the woods yet? Its been almost two weeks now" Carter whined. They hadn't done much sabotage lately thanks to Hochstetter's patrols outside camp.

"According to Klink, Hochstetter had important business in Berlin and had to call his troops back. All though after that stunt you pulled with Nelly, I'm surprised that he hadn't had the barracks torn apart again."

Cater winced. He had smuggled in a baby deer, naming it Nelly, into the camp through the tunnels two weeks ago. Colonel Wilhelm Klink the camp Kommandant, despite his ignorance, had soon discovered Nelly as she wondered outside the barracks looking for fresh grass. It didn't take long for Major Wolfgang Hochstetter to hear about the deer and demand a wide search for tunnels outside the wire. So sabotage work had to shut down for a while and Carter was ordered to bring no more animals into camp. Nelly had been sent to the Hammelburg zoo.

"I said I was sorry sir, but she had no family. What was I suppose to do? Let the bears eat her?"

Newkirk sighed "Carter..." Before he could finish his statement Kinch came out of the barracks.

"Sir," he moved closer to the Colonel to avoid being overheard by the guards, "London called. Says that the underground need new radio parts. According to them, mice had a feast upon their hidden radio. They were able to fix most of their wiring, but they need replacement part for the radio itself."

It was Hogan's turn to sigh, "How soon do they need it?"

"Today, before London bombs that munitions factory outside of town."

Hogan frown deepened, "Why so soon?"

"London says that some of the underground members are getting some Intel about another factory location. They didn't get the chance to warn them about the raid and now they're worried that they may get to close to the bombing."

"I see. Did you check if we have the parts to spare?"

"I check. We have the parts."

"Good. We need to get those parts to the underground. I'll take volunteers. It's a high priority and it needs to get done fast. Volunteers?" Despite Hogan's emphases on how important it was to get these radio parts to the underground no one volunteered. They didn't want to go out with the sun up, it was easier to get caught by patrols. The sun seemed to glare wickedly at them now. "Well don't all get up at once."

"I'll go sir." Carter volunteered "I haven't been out in a while; especially after the Nelly incident."

Hogan thought for a moment. "Alright, I want you to go in your uniform just in case we need Schultz to pick you up. I want you to follow Kinch back into the tunnel to get those parts. Now.." He went over the plan with Carter, who was more than happy to get out of the camp. It was a simple plan. Carter was to go out through the emergency tunnel and head to an abandon farm house to meet with the underground agent code name King Arthur.

"Blimey, who picks these code-names?" Newkirk complained but Hogan ignored him continuing to explain the plan.

They would exchange recognition codes; Carter would give the parts over, and then head back. If he wasn't back in two hours, they would report him missing and Schultz and the other guards would go out looking for him. ".. And whatever you do don't go near that munitions factory. It's to be raided at 1500 hours and I don't need you getting caught in it if anything goes wrong."

"Don't worry boy.., I mean sir. I won't even think about it."

"That's what we're afraid of." Noticing Schultz was coming their way he shooed them off his two Sergeants and walked over to the Sergeant of the guard. "Hey Schultz! Beautiful day isn't it."

"Ja. But it won't last according to the Kommandant." The Fat Sergeant complained.

"What do you mean?" Now worried. At this point LeBeau and Newkirk had left the game to listen to Schultz.

"There is supposed to be a riesig storm head this way. And I have guard duty tonight." he said all gloomy.

"Now mate, how can you say that when there isn't a cloud in the sky?" Newkirk challenged waving his hand above his head.

"Try again Pierre" LeBeau answered pointing to something behind Newkirk. Newkirk looked behind noticing the first time that day a large menacing collection of storm clouds that was heading in their direction.

"Except that."

"That looks awfully big." LeBeau commented

"Ja. Tell me about it." Schultz turned to Hogan. "The big shot wanted me to tell you that there will be no roll call tonight. But there will be a head count! So everyone better be there or else I'll have to report to the Kommandant!" Then he noticed the discarded pie pans. "Where is Carter?" Then noticing that Kinch was missing as well he asked, "And where is Sergeant Kinchloe?"

Hogan look at him slyly "do you really want to know?"

"No I don't." he said without hesitation. "Just make sure they are in the barracks before lights out. Please Colonel Hogan. It would be worth my life."

"Don't worry Schultz they will." Hogan smiled.

"Thank you Colonel Hogan. Now I must get back to the Kommandant." with that he left.

As soon as he was out of site Hogan frowned and headed straight for the barracks with Newkirk and LeBeau in tow. But before he could get there, Kinch came out, looking out of breath. "What is it Kinch?" Hogan didn't like the looks of this.

"Just ...got a call...from London sir... the raid is... To be set at 1300 hours..."

Hogan paled "What? Why?"

"Big storm head this way"

Newkirk snorted "Like we didn't know that already."

Hogan ignored him. "Did you warn Carter?"

"Wasn't able to; He left before I got the message. I tried to catch up to him but he's fast; Almost got caught by a patrol myself."

"What Patrol?"

"Gestapo."

"There isn't supposed to be any Gestapo out there! Where did they come from? And why are they here?"

"Mon Colonel, how would we know?" LeBeau asked sarcastically.

"I should have never sent him out. Not with the Gestapo out there. And now they changed the bomb raid!"

"Well gov'nor, you did tell Carter not to go anywhere near the factory, did you not" Newkirk asked.

"Still, something just not right. Kinch, get London on the horn and have them relay the message about the early drop to the underground. LeBeau see if Schultz knows anything about the Gestapo in the woods. If you have to, take the chocolate from my footlocker. Newkirk, I want you on standby encase I need to send someone out. Have a Gestapo uniform ready. I'm going to give our dear Kommendant a visit." With that he left, leaving the men to their duties.

~HH Present~

Carter continued blindly onwards but it seemed like no matter where he turned the fire seemed to close in on him. A crack coming from the left caught his attention. Turning towards the sound he noticed a tree falling towards him. He tried walking backwards but ended up falling on the ground as the top of the tree landed three feet in front of him. Now in a full fledged panic attack, he crawled backwards a few feet before getting up, into a full run. Another tree fell in his path, and he skidded to a halt, almost falling on top of the burning tree. He turned to his left and tried to run but ended up tripping into a bomb made crater. He yelped in surprise as he toppled into the hole. His head made contact with a round red stone that was sticking out rendering him unconscious and caused the stone to become free. Both the Sergeant and the stone fell, landing at the bottom of the pit with the stone on top of the poor unconscious Sergeant. The fire roared on, causing another tree to fall right next to the hole. But it seemed like not matter what the fire seemed to be unable to touch him. All the while the stone continued change into a bright red color.

~HH 12 55 hours at the camp~

Hogan paced inside his quarters waiting for his two men to return to him with some news. Any news. The Kommendant would say nothing of the Gestapo in the woods and it was annoying him profoundly. Newkirk was waiting with his commanding officer since his work was already done. All he had to do was wait for his CO to give the word and he would be able to leave in five minutes flat. He too was hoping for some good news, but with the way things were looking he wasn't so sure about the 'good' part. Five more minutes past before LeBeau entered the room with Kinch right behind him. Hogan stopped pacing and looked up at the two men who just entered the room.

"Well?"

"Mon Colonel, sorry, but Schultz doesn't know anything about why the Gestapo are in the woods." LeBeau reported. "Only that it was done recently and that it wasn't Hochstetter's men."

"It may not be Hochstetter's men but Gestapo is Gestapo no matter what. Kinch, what you got for me?"

"Good news is I got a hold of London and they were able to reach the Underground to pass the warning." Kinch reported. "The bad news is Carter had already left before they got the message."

Hogan cursed. "Anything else?"

"More bad news I'm afraid. It seems that the friendly neighborhood Gestapo has blocked the path back home for our Little Deer. According to the underground, he went towards the munitions factory. They said that he wouldn't be close enough for the bombing, but London assured us that they'll do their best to stay directly on target as possible."

Newkirk was horrified. "You mean they're not going to stop the raid?"

Kinch gave him a sad look. "No, they can't. They planes left half an hour ago. They'll be bombing that factory in..." he looked at his watch. "Two minutes."

Hogan arms were wrapped around him as he digested the information that was given to him. He knew his men were watching him, waiting for his orders. It didn't take long for him to decide what to do. "Newkirk do we have an extra Gestapo suit? Something high up, like a colonel or general?"

"Think we might have a General in your size Gov."

"Good. Have it ready in twenty minutes with papers and orders. If Carter doesn't get back by then, we're going after him."

~HH Present~

The first thing Carter notice as he started to come to was that something cold was touching his face. The next thing was the throbbing pain on the back of his head. He slowly opened his eyes trying his best to clear the fog in his head. He tried to get up but the world began to spin. He groaned as he fell back down hoping the world would stop spinning. Once he felt less dizzy he slowly pushed himself up in a setting position. He then looked at his surroundings. He was in a slightly deep hole, with ash covering the bottom. And sitting on his lap was the large red stone that he hit his head on. He shiftshis legs to get a better look at it when a sudden pain shot up through his legs. He hissed through his teeth and closed his eyes in pain. He knew that ether his leg was broken or his ankle was sprained. He looked up at the sky trying his best to ignore the pain in his leg. It was then he noticed that snow had started to fall. And yet he wasn't even the slightest bit cold. _That's funny_, he thought, _I thought snow was suppose to be cold._ It didn't take him long to find the heat source. He stared at the strangely red rock. _How is it keeping me warm? Maybe the fire warmed it up. Fire._ Flashes of the fire went through his head causing him to jolt up ignoring the fact that the world was spinning again and his ankle felt like it was on fire. But as soon as the rock fell off him, the cold hit him like a ton of bricks. His body seemed to become weakened by even the smallest of flakes. He shivered so bad that it looked like he was having a seizure. It was too much for him. He found himself back on the ground dragging his body towards the heated rock, hugging it as if it was his life savior. The shivers stopped as soon as he touched the rock and he seemed to be able to control his emotions better. He sighed with relief as the warmth spread through his body.

_ Crack!_

He froze. Someone or something was in the woods. A mental picture the Gestapo patrol that he had avoided early came to mind. He stayed as quite as possible. But it seemed no use as a Gestapo captain with a bandana over the lower part of his face came into view. His gun raised. Carter closed his eyes waiting for the inevitable.

"Carter?" Cater opened his eyes, knowing the voice it belonged to.

"Newkirk?"

"Blimey, mate, we've been looking all over for you! What you doing down there?" Newkirk removed his bandana revealing his face. Carter was never happier to see him.

"Really you have? How long have I been out of camp?"

"Only an 'our and 'alf but the bombers came early. Anyways you didn't answer my question."

"What? oh... I, uh.. fell." He said feeling really silly about the answer.

"You fell? Blimey mate it looks like a good thing you did or you might have not made it out if this alive. Can you get up?"

He shook his head. "I think I sprained my ankle. My head also hurts. I think I hit it on something on the way down... Actually now that I think about it, I just woke up like five minutes ago." he scrunched up his eye brows "do you think I might have a concussion?"

"Not with your hard head. But we'll have Wilson look you over when we get back." he shivered as the wind started to pick up. "Aren't you cold?"

Carter shook his head again. "No. this rock is keeping me warm" he lifted the rock so Newkirk could look at it better. "It must have been heated up in the fire. Though if I let it go I feel so cold I think I would get hypothermia in seconds. And boy that doesn't feel so good." Remembering the seizure like shivers, he involuntary shivered.

"That is an unusual rock you got there mate. But if it's keeping you warm you might as well keep it. It's not like it's an animal of some sort. But you might want to zip it up in your jacket, course we're going to need to get you out of there. What a sticky wicket you got yourself into mate." He watched as Carter zipped the rock into his jacket making it look like he had a large stomach. He suppressed a giggle as he reached into his jacket for the radio hidden within. "Phantom to Papa Bear. Come in Papa Bear. Can you read me? Over." He waited for a reply.

"This is Papa Bear. We hear you loud and clear Phantom. Over."

"Found Little Deer, but in need of assistance. It is stuck in a pit, has a bad back leg and a nasty bump on the head. Over."

"All right Phantom, will be there soon so hang tight. Papa Bear over and out."

"Phantom over and out." He looked over at his stuck friend with a reassuring smile "No worries mate, the gov'nor will be here soon." Carter nodded, and they both waited for Hogan's arrival.


End file.
